Bored with scanning the Internet for election morsels (and with the short lines in Charlottesville), I decided to head out to the Stone Robinson precinct in southeastern Albemarle County to conduct some completely unscientific exit polling in order to get a sense for who is voting, and who they’re voting for.
I didn’t pick Stone Robinson out of a hat: In national elections, it’s been the most Republican precinct in either Albemarle County or the City of Charlottesville. In 2006, 61.2 percent of Stone Robinson voters picked Republican Congressman Virgil Goode. In 2004, 63.4 percent of those voters selected George W. Bush. If Virginia goes for Barack Obama or the Fifth District elects Tom Perriello, both candidates would have to have much stronger showings than their Democratic predecessors.
Stone Robinson Elementary: Where the highest percentage of county Republicans vote.
Between 3:20pm and 4:20pm, I saw between 40 and 45 people come out of the precinct at Stone Robinson Elementary. I interviewed 34 people who had voted (some slipped away while I was talking to someone else), and 31 responded to my questions. A disproportionate amount of those, 58 percent, were female. Race can be a little more difficult to judge, but 23 percent appeared black. Five of the 31 were obviously younger, while seven were obviously older. (The rest, 61 percent, I lumped into a rather expansive “middle-aged” category.)
So who did those people vote for? Pretty much who you’d expect, with some twinkles of hope for Democrats. In the Senate race, Mark Warner blasted Jim Gilmore about two to one (68 percent), but the presidential and congressional races were close. John McCain and Obama votes were exactly split, with one vote for Ralph Nader. In the congressional race, Perriello edged Goode slightly, 17 to 14.
The sample size that I took was obviously too small to show very much. Of the three people who didn’t talk to me, demographics would suggest that two were Republicans and one was a Democrat, which would give the numbers a slight McCain edge and a closer Perriello/Goode margin. Moreover, the hour I chose tilted the voter demographics toward those who could either get off work mid-day or who didn’t work.
Nevertheless, I found the voter trends interesting. Nine were straight-ticket Republicans and 15 were straight-ticket Democrats—meaning that 77.4 percent voted straight ticket one way or the other. Four were Warner Republicans, meaning they opted for McCain and Goode in the other races. Two people could be called McCain Democrats, voting for McCain, Warner and Perriello.
Finally, here is a smattering of comments I got on the Fifth District race.
Those who voted for Goode:
“Goode looks at the whole picture. He stands up for the average man.”
“I didn’t like some the things I’ve read about [Perriello].”
“He’s a Republican.”
Those who voted for Perriello:
“I know Perriello’s family.”
“I can’t stand Goode. He takes too much for granted.”
“[Perriello’s] young, cultured. He’s got a good view of things.”
“Goode doesn’t represent my point of view of things. We have no voice at all in this gerrymandered district.”
